Publisher Darrington Press shared an early preview of Daggerheart ahead of the new tabletop RPG’s release on May 20. This up-and-coming D&D competitor offers adversaries instead of monsters, but the hostile NPCs you’ll face are no less threatening for the name change. In fact, some of the revealed creatures are straight out of our nightmares.
When I first playtested Daggerheart last year, its storytelling-first approach gave me an impression of fantasy whimsy. I was playing at level one, though. Clearly, by the time you reach level five and above, where you’ll be meeting these adversaries, Daggerheart gets a lot more dangerous.
First, let’s talk about the least upsetting entry in Daggerheart’s bestiary. The Adult Flickerfly looks like a majestic cross between a dragonfly and an actual dragon, but it’s spicy enough that it can face an entire adventuring party by itself.
The Adult Flickerfly is the size of a house, but it doesn’t let that stop it from moving at shocking speeds. It can zip across a battlefield while in the air, and its Whirlwind attack allows it to damage all targets who get too close. They’re also manipulative beasties, able to learn a target’s fear through their dazzling Mind Dance displays. Their ultimate move is a hallucinatory breath that damages targets who fail a roll against it – and if the Flickerfly knows your fears, you’re disadvantaged on said roll.
The remaining creatures from this exclusive page spread (click on the above to zoom in) are demons of a particular nasty emotion. The Demon of Avarice, for example, is a Support adversary who specializes in disadvantaging its attackers. Unless an adventurer is willing to part with a handful of gold, their attacks against the demon have disadvantage. They can also spend gold instead of marking HP from the demon’s attacks – though it only makes Avarice stronger.
The Demon of Despair is a Skulk adversary that looks like Eeyore, only designed for a Del Toro monster movie. These demons deal extra damage to characters with zero Hope, and they make it tougher for heroes to regain that crucial resource.
A Demon of Wrath is an angry Bruiser adversary whose attacks deal direct damage. They can force Fear into the minds of adventurers and make retaliatory attacks when they take damage. The most explosive trick in their arsenal is the ability to summon a small horse of minor demons, an act that is set in motion when Wrath sees a nearby creature commit an act of violence.
Next is the Demon of Hubris, a Leader adversary that can command other demons to act on their behalf. Characters lose a Hope any time they see this demon make a successful attack, and they gain extra Stress if they fail a roll within close range of this nasty beast. Hubris does allow characters to reroll a Fear Die after they fail a roll, but if the new result is still a failure, they suffer worse consequences.
Lastly, there’s the Demon of Jealousy, a bulbous green bug-like creature with more legs than I’m personally comfortable with. When the demon marks HP from an attack, it can spend Fear to cause its attacker to take the same amount of hits. Jealousy can also mark Stress to increase the damage taken by a nearby creature who was hurt by a different adversary. To make matters worse, this demon can also steal items from nearby creatures who take severe damage.
For more on upcoming tabletop RPGs, here’s all you need to know about this year’s DnD release schedule. We can also provide top tips for picking DnD classes and DnD races. Or, if you’d like to chat more about Daggerheart, join us in the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
